Edna's Apprentice
by DepressedAndDelinquent
Summary: Inka, a Zafara, has been seperated from her brother in the Haunted Woods and lies helpless at the bottom of a black abyss. Her brother has no hope alone - and what are the true motives of the sinister watcher, who is intent on seeking Inka, dead or alive?
1. Chapter 1: Twilight

Hacker

**Edna's Apprentice**

_**Chapter 1 - Twilight**_

**It was always twilight in the Haunted Woods. Nothing stirred. Nothing moved. Not a single being dared to disturb the bleak, humid silence. The image of deathly stillness was suddenly shattered by an unkempt figure stumbling through the matted foliage, huge yellow eyes glowing, fangs wet and mouth gaping with ragged gasps. The creature paused, bent double, and gave a snarl of discomfort. A clawed paw reached down to extract a splintered knife from its foreleg, broken blade shining with fresh blood. The thing hurled the knife away, and continued its staggering gait through the trees, every now and then stopping to grasp a tree for support. The creature's strength was sapping, fast. And the wound looked deep.**

**An eye gleamed in the darkness. Scraping noises, and a blade was drawn from the watcher's belt. She climbed soundlessly from her vintage point – a rocky shelf studded with half-dead saplings – and walked on light feet towards the place where the figure had first stopped. She sniffed. Blood…the watcher picked up something from the dry mould spattered earth. A shard of metal from the knife– one end bloody. The watcher sheathed her blade, and peered into the deep shadows. "Edna…the poor creature was hunted…we must help **_**her**_**…" Hearing something else, the watcher spun round and drew her weapon. Legs tensed and ears pricked, she waited for the silent attacker. It didn't come. She relaxed; just a little. "We're getting a lot of passers tonight," she whispered to herself, as first one voice, then another penetrated the boughs of the ancient forest. **

"**Tarrio! Tarrio! Tell me where you are!"**

"**Here, below the spiky bush!"**

"**There's lots of spiky bushes, you dolt!"**

"**This one…the one to your right!"**

**The voices got closer. Smearing earth on her face and paws to mask her scent, the watcher retired to her crag again. She would miss nothing.**

**Swearing under her breath, the Zafara staggered blindly after her brother's voice, her outstretched paws criss-crossed with bramble scars. "Tarrio, this time something sensible or I'll leave you here!" She said hoarsely, afraid to speak for fear of what was behind them caught up…there was an answering cry from her brother; but he sounded odd, thick, even. "I'm over here…your right…in a hollow underneath this bush; can't move 'cause it's sharp." She stole towards his voice, then shrieked with alarm as the soil beneath her paw crumbled and fell into a dark abyss. "Inka! Not that way!" Hollered Tarrio's voice, then dissolved into a hacking splutter. "Inka! Come here!" Inka the Zafara screamed, ice cold panic welling up inside her, as the ground sank beneath her feet and she was deposited, flailing helplessly, onto a writhing landslide of pebbly scree. Blood seeped through gashes on her arms and legs, and Inka felt her heart race as her ears filtered one thing into her terrified mind, her brother's voice, still calling: **_**Inka! Inka! Inka! Inka!...**_

**The screams and sobs eventually died away, and the other creature remained hidden beneath his bush, making no sound, and the watcher stood alone, trembling, tears dribbling unbidden from her stony eyes, and her cold lips uttered a word, a word that meant everything to her. "**_**Inka."**_


	2. Chapter 2: Lonely

Edna's Apprentice

**Edna's Apprentice**

_**Chapter 2 - Lonely**_

**Tarrio found it hard to believe that his sister's screams and pleas had just diminished completely. Nobody could fall that far. But she had…Tarrio wiped the blood from his nose; he had struck a stone when he fell and now there was a gash under his eye as well, that was spouting blood excessively. Terror and expectancy was pounding inside his head, the memory of the pursuers who had chased Inka and him, through the woods until they were frightened by something, and Inka had managed to guide him further on, avoiding danger…until now. Tarrio closed his eyes and finally wept, not caring if the darkness were to swallow him up and carry him away from the rest of the world. **

**The watcher descended gracefully from her rocky perch one more time, and stood trembling in the lengthening shadows, before crumpling to the ground like a broken doll. She had heard. She knew she had heard right, the voice had cried out once, and then again, repeatedly, as the Zafara disappeared among the bouncing boulders and sliding soil. The watcher clenched her mud-crusted fist. She would find the one who fell, find out who she was, if she was still alive…the poor, demented, shambling creature who had wandered forth earlier would have to wait. She wanted answers. And she would get them. Whatever it took.**

**Tarrio heard a noise from above and was jolted out of his oblivion of self-pity and fear. Firm yet light footsteps. The metallic scraping of a blade being unsheathed. A voice, a female voice. "Whoever you are, the one who lost his friend, heed my warning: not many hear the watcher speak, and live afterwards. I go to find the one you lost, do not cry out or cross my path; the punishment is death." Though he was hidden from all above, Tarrio automatically froze. The voice was cold, but not cruel. She…she meant him. She had said, 'I go to find the one you lost', but also, 'do not cry out or cross my path.' She evidently wanted to find Inka…and do it alone. **_**Do not cry out. **_**The footsteps receded. Desperation overcame fear, and Tarrio clawed his way out of the recess beneath the bush, feeling the sharp leaves draw blood on his unprotected arms and legs. For each centimetre he moved, Tarrio slid back two. Scrabbling desperately, the Kyrii grabbed a tuft of weeds from the surface and hauled himself up, spitting out dirt and lying face down, gasping, feeling scratched and hot. Almost immediately he forced himself to rise again, and yelled into the darkness: "Watcher, whoever you are! Please help me find my sister!" His cry was answered with silence. "Watcher! Please!" Tarrio called again, more insistently. No response. Rage gripped him. "Fine!" He yelled, flinging a twig into the ever-darkening gloom. "Be like that! I'll find Inka before you do!" **

**Almost before the threat had passed his lips, Tarrio realised what a foolish thing it was to say. There was no way of entering that dark, dangerous pit without possibly fatal risk, and what chance did he have of survival, lost, alone, without food and wounded? Without hope. Tarrio crawled over to where he had heard Inka fall, and when he reached the edge, dropped a pebble into the great yawning gap. There was no sound for a few seconds, then a muffled thud. It was a long way down. He would have to walk, and hope he could find some news of Inka or another way down into the pit. **

**And the searchers. Soon they would be near again, hunting him, chasing him. Tarrio remembered their ragged masks, red eyes and gaping tears for mouths, flowing capes stitched in the colours of the forest, so you wouldn't see them until it was too late…Slowly, the darkness of the oncoming night drove in on Tarrio, crushing his breathing and smothering him. The searchers…Tarrio burrowed into the forest floor, amongst the dry leaves and damp mould, praying for the relief that would never come. He must find Inka. Before the watcher did. Before it was too late. **

**It was the cold dew of the morning that woke Tarrio the following day – not that it was any lighter, or warmer. Uncurling from his nest of leaves, Tarrio started his search right away; the searchers could be anywhere and he needed to keep moving. **

**Tarrio kept to the areas that were thick with undergrowth; he had less chance of being spotted and he found several cup-shaped leaves he could lick the dew off. But no food. He dared not eat any of the berries and fungi that he encountered, any of them could be poisonous, or rotten, and he'd never know…it was impossible to ignore the gnawing pain that constantly nagged the Kyrii for food, and he soon found himself chewing his fur. In desperation, he looked for pools that might contain fish, but there were none. He tied his headscarf over one eye, to stop the wound bleeding and also in the hope that he might look a little more formidable. He found a stout stick and used it to dig up some bulbous white roots from the ground; he had seen them also in Shenkuu and knew they were edible. After he had eaten the roots, there was nothing more, and the Kyrii was soon hungry again. He tried to avoid the mud and softer ground, in case footprints should give the searchers an idea of where he was. He kept to the higher ground and ridges, so he could see what was going on below him, and there was less chance of an ambush. And as he walked, Tarrio the Kyrii thought of Inka, and how she would deal with a situation like this. But Inka wasn't there, and Tarrio had to think for himself, walk by himself, protect himself, alone.**

**After she had gone from the clearing in which the Zafara had fallen, the watcher headed north; following ancient rumours that told of scree caverns. She hoped that the rumours were true, and the Zafara had fallen into their rank depths. If she had survived…it would be a matter of surviving a little longer. If she had not…maybe the body would provide some information. **

**As the last slants of sunlight disappeared, the watcher lit a fire and prepared her sleeping roll. She ate a few mouthfuls of dry bread, and lay down. No matter how she looked at it, she was alone, and would be until the Zafara was found. And who knew when – if ever – that would be?**


	3. Chapter 3: Hunted

Edna's Apprentice

**Edna's Apprentice**

_**Chapter 3 – Hunted**_

**The second night was closing in, and Tarrio was worse off than ever before. He had had little to drink and next to nothing to eat, stopping ever more frequently to rest, for longer periods each time. Hunger and exhaustion sapped his strength and dulled his senses, rendering him helpless. And the worst of it was that the more he slowed down, the more chance the searchers would have of finding him. **

**As the shadows all but engulfed him, Tarrio fumbled about on the forest floor for some dry leaves and heaped them round himself. He was so tired; sleep came easily, if not uncomfortably.**

**Tarrio wasn't sure what woke him, or at what time, but he felt a deep unease. There was no sound close by, just the continuous rustle of leaves and whispering of the trees. Tarrio was used to those sounds by now. He sat cross-legged and tried to warm himself up blowing on his paws, and pulling his Darigan fan jersey over his knees. The jersey had once been a favourite possession, but now it was torn and covered in caked mud. Tarrio realised with a jolt how filthy he was, how much he stank, and even his lustrous long fur was matted and tangled with twigs. He looked at one two-toed paw. The sole was muddy…dry mud. He scraped it off, and did the same with his other foot. Why did he feel anxious about getting a little muddy? There was something he had forgotten, Tarrio was sure. Something about footprints…he remembered, all to late. He had been walking delirious, weak from lack of food and water, too tired to pay attention to where he was walking – there would be a neat little trail of footprints in the mud for the searchers to find! There was no time to go back and cover up his tracks, he had to get away, find some place to hide, like a cave, or a bush…already he could hear the night creatures squeal and flutter as something disturbed them. Tarrio wrenched the headscarf off his eye and jammed his fist in his mouth as the scab came off with it, tying the piece of cloth round one paw as he plunged into the undergrowth. He used the scarf as a bandage while he grabbed a thick stem with thorns on it, and used this to smash and tear his way through the leafy vines that threatened to trip him. He had hardly slept, had nothing to eat, and he was getting slower. The searchers were closing in. Tarrio knew he could never outrun them, even if he kept concealed in the twisted bushes. They would drive him out. Twigs snapped as the searchers came closer, branches were cut aside. He would soon have no places to hide, nowhere to run. **

**Two days the watcher had been looking for that wretched Inka, and her food and water had given out. She was trained, however, and knew the essential ways of survival. The watcher forced herself not to think of her past, now that the memories had been aroused, but the strange creature she had seen just before the Inka the Zafara and her friend had turned up in the clearing. What had it been doing? Where was it from? It was hurt, that was for sure – the watcher had found part of the broken blade that the creature had removed from its leg. **

**Up ahead, the watcher could see the boulder-strewn fen that marked the beginning of the caverns, should they be there. She drew her sword and picked her way from boulder to boulder, her eyes fixed the rock wall several metres in front. That was where an entrance would be…if there was one. The watcher cursed as her footpaw sunk into the claggy mud. Spare thoughts could be lethal. Pulling her paw free, the watcher continued her gruelling climb across the swampy terrain. Not long to go, now…there was a narrow stripe of reed-grass to her left, growing on a low bank of earth. It was high enough to rest on, but could collapse and sink with her weight. The watcher was tired, and she decided to risk it. Agility had saved her life many a time before.**

**Tarrio crouched low and soundlessly dug his paws into the soft loamy earth. He rubbed handfuls on his face and body, rubbing dried grass into his long mane of fur along with the mud – it might temporarily camouflage him for a while and it was all he could think of right now, anyway. He stole a glance behind him into the tangled thicket of thorns and dead wood. Was there a chance – if a small one – that he could hide from the searchers there? Wait till they passed? **

**Suddenly Tarrio smelt something that made his head whirl. Smoke! They were burning him out! **

**He heard the hiss, the crackle, felt the vines all around him tug and pull as saplings came smashing down. The searchers yelled their triumph aloud, and though the Kyrii could not feel the heat yet, he knew it was only a matter of time. Head down, he plunged into the undergrowth and writhed among the dead leaves, trying to get as far away as possible. But the vines and creepers formed a tangled mat above his head, and every now and then a smouldering chunk of wood came tumbling down, veiling him in an ashy covering and making it hard to breathe. Tarrio suddenly realised that it had been a stupid thing to do, to rush headlong into the bushes like this. Now he was trapped, with a forest fire raging about his ears, any hope of escape futile unless there was a way up through the thorns. He was dead. Done for. Finished. Tarrio's head suddenly collided with a wall of compacted earth and rock – a landslide! With the way blocked in front, and a fiery death behind, the young Kyrii was sure that the only way out now was directly upwards – right into the waiting hands of the searchers, and certain death at a sword point moments later. **

_**Skreeee. Skreeee. Skreeee – **_**the watcher leapt up from sharpening her blade – too late to realise the reed bank she was sitting on was eroding, fast, and dragging her footpaw with it. Uttering a snarl of irritation, the watcher grasped her leg with both paws and yanked her foot out of the earth's muddy embrace. The sloping bank beneath her was already giving way, being sucked down into the swirling swamp. She leapt back – right into the fen itself. The watcher screamed, clawing at the clumps of marsh grass and weeds that grew in tufts, but they all came away in her paws. She was in up to her thighs already. Thinking fast, the watcher tore the heavy pack off her back and flung it away, her sheath and belt following suit. She them laid her sword flat across the mud, and heaved herself onto it, slowly pushing her way through the mud towards the nearest boulder. Even that was further than it looked…the sword slipped from the watcher's grip, and was lost to the outside world. **

**The watcher was now in up to her shoulders. With nothing to bear her weight, there was nothing at all she could do. A single tear welled up in one eye, and the watcher let herself drown, whispering as she went down for the last time. **_**"Inka…oh Inka, I'm so sorry I didn't find you, it would have meant fining myself, too. Edna…"**_

**And she was gone.**


End file.
